This year has been an interesting year. My husband got a new job in March of 2013 and then studied his buns off and got a promotion this month. It’s been crazy around here and I’ve tried my best to support him in his goals as he goes for it in this stage of his career. I could not be more proud of him. Needless to say, I’ve had some time to think about my life and career and what I really want. Bri wrote a post last week about life changes and included a little life list that I thought was great. So here’s what I’m thinking about and working on lately. Let’s dream it, yes?

Eating / Kale, chard, strawberries, chard, snap peas, oh, and did I mention chard? (Did I also mention I’m sick of chard?)
Drinking / Water, water, and more water. Always and forever.
Practicing / Arm balance poses in yoga.
Mastering / The art of the fish taco.
Learning / To be socially confident.
Trying / To chill out on work and the internet and be present with my husband when he is home.
Playing / My guitar.
Finishing / My home office revamp.
Reading / Creative Confidence
Remembering / To believe in myself and my talents.
Wearing / Skinny jeans and dressy tanks. Usually I can be found towering above the population on 4″ wedge heels.
Cooking / From my farm box. I’m trying to be better about eating locally, organically, and seasonally.
Working / On what makes me happy: physically, mentally, creatively, spiritually.
Traveling / Hopefully to Seattle soon!
Wanting / To spend more time with friends. I can be such a hermit sometimes.

I could get lost on Behance. There’s so much crazy talent over there that it makes me both incredibly inspired and a bit envious all at the same time. So instead of hoarding away all of the gorgeous art, design, and illustrations I see every week, I’d like to share them with you in the hopes that you, too, will be as inspired as I am. Sorry in advance about the art envy.

For this first week, I’d like to share the work of illustrator Lisk Feng. Lisk is originally from China, but is now living in Maryland and is pursuing her MFA in illustration at MICA. She has published several books in China and I can only hope that she publishes here in the States so I can get my hot little hands on her work.

I have a few new kid’s birthday party invitations now for sale over on Minted this week! Kids illustration is always a favorite of mine, so this challenge was particularly fun for me.

When I designed “Mod Conductor“, I wanted to create a train invitation for girls. I love that there are companies out there who are trying to get more girls interested STEM fields (have you seen THIS?!), and this invitation and color palette aimed to acknowledge that. Girls can be into trains AND like pink. It’s totally cool, didn’t you know?

“Mid-Mod First Facts” is an invitation to celebrate your little one’s first year of life! This is a fun one, as all the fields are completely customizable. Think of it as “baby’s first infographic”. Because that’s what one-year-olds new parents get excited about.

I originally created this “Little Explorer” invitation suite for my best friend as a baby shower invitation, but I loved it so much and got such positive feedback that I wanted to be able to share it. My friend decorated her nursery in a vintage Disney theme, and design was inspired by vintage Disneyland posters, particularly those from Tomorrowland. I wanted to give a little nod to those designs from the 1950′s in the shape of the rocket ship and the half-tone pattern of the cloud, while keeping the typography current. I hope you like it as much as I do. It’s one of my favorites.

Finally, I illustrated a fun/whimsical/hopefully not creepy magician for my “Abracadabra” invitation. Magician Maurice and his magical bunny Jeeves. Don’t ask him for his secrets. You don’t want to know.

Thanks for checking out my work everyone. It really means so much to me to be able to put my work out there in the hopes that it makes even one person smile. That’s really why I do this. And because I like drawing freaky party characters. It’s a win/win.

I wanted to share some news I received on Friday. As you know, I frequently participate in the design challenges over on Minted and have been fortunate enough to have had quite a number of my designs picked up and sold on the site. Last year Minted rolled out their Elite Designer Program, which recognizes designers that have had a high sales percentage in a major category and/or those who have a high amount of wins in the design challenges. I am so thrilled to announce the I was added to the program this year, which is a huge, huge honor. There is some serious talent over on Minted and to be included with some of these designers is really a big deal for me.

There are four levels to the program: C | M | Y | K (the highest). This year, I’ve entered into the program at level C. I hope to be able to move up in the program as time goes on, but for now, I’m so happy to be included! One of the perks of the program is getting to have a Minted storefront, which will house all my designs in one place (a huge bonus) with searchable tags and categories. To read more about the new additions to the Elite Designer Program on Minted’s site, click here.

To learn more about Minted or the design challenges, click through here. I dare you to not get addicted to designing for them!

You guys. This time change is KILLING ME. It’s my own fault, really. It’s not like I sucked it up on Sunday like a normal human, oh no. I definitely slept in until 10:30 (!) and then rolled out of bed wondering where my morning went. Needless to say that it’s been affecting my work week. On Tuesdays, I lead a group of my lady co-workers in a short-but-intense boot-camp workout in the “way back” of our company parking lot (glamorous? no.). Since I’ve been staying up too late and rolling out of bed too late, I haven’t had time to pack my lunch, let alone prep dinner for later in the evening.

I swung into Trader Joe’s after boot camp to try and grab something healthy that would get me through until the end of the work day. I ended up with my usual salad, but I also spied a bag of fava beans in the frozen aisle that I thought I’d pick up for later. I also grabbed a multi-grain boule and a little log of chevre before dashing out the door.

When I got home, I tried to think of what to make with the favas and what I had in my refrigerator and I remembered this article from the March 2014 issue of Sunset Magazine. I decided to create my own version with what I had and, man, did it turn out tasty! Thinly-sliced crunchy bread is rubbed with garlic, smeared with goat cheese, and topped with mashed favas and a poached egg. Simple, healthy, delicious. My kind of dinner.

Happy Monday, friends! While I had big plans to sow seeds in my garden over the weekend, I didn’t get to do it since it pretty much rained non-stop for three days. That didn’t keep me from staring out the windows, garden planning, and being taunted by my stone fruit trees, which are just beginning to bloom. C’mon Spring!

On Sunday, as John went off to work, I decided to spend the morning working on some patterns. Remember this mood board I made for the Skillshare class I was taking (which I never finished, whoops)? I kept looking back at it and decided to use it as my starting point. I was really feeling that peach in the center, so the peach juice and leaves came from that. The stripes were washi-inspired, and the burst was derived from that image on the bottom-right (although I like to think that’s what Spring does to us. She sneaks up all cloaked in dark rain clouds and sadness and then bursts forth, all “Holla! I’m here!”).

I thought it would be fun to offer up these patterns as a little freebie for you guys. Print one and use it to make gift tags! Print a bunch and use them to wrap a gift or make a journal cover! You guys are creative, use your imagination! :) If you make anything super fun with them, tag me in a pic on Instagram (@tinyinklings). I’d love to see!

I was poking around Minted’s Julep blog the other day (admittedly, looking for special prize announcements) and came across this post featuring suggestions for great art prints for newlyweds. My art print “The Neighbors” is featured in the #2 spot! You can check out all the print colorways here, and read the full post here.